


we met on a beach, sometime after midnight

by orphan_account



Category: Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Beaches, First Kiss, Late Night Conversations, M/M, Nighttime, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 12:21:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4919407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler sneaks out in the middle of the night and meets Josh at a hidden beach.</p><p>Alt. Titled - My First Kiss Happened On The Night Of September 30th... Well, The Early Morning Of October 1st</p>
            </blockquote>





	we met on a beach, sometime after midnight

**Author's Note:**

> I listened to All Time Low's album 'Nothing Personal' on repeat while writing/editing this one.
> 
> Basically, I think that the song 'Too Much' kinda fits this one.

Tyler was working so hard to be silent.

He was sneaking out. For the first time ever. He had everything planned out except for the fact that his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Hell, he even has a black backpack with a blanket. Tyler shakes his hands out, seemingly helping him calm down. He reaches out for his window and pulls it open. Then he hears a creak from downstairs. When nothing follows, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and slowly shimmies out of the opening.

He closes the window behind himself and looks over the edge of the roof, finding the ladder he had set up earlier today. Well yesterday as is it after midnight. Tyler cautiously throws one leg over the boundary of the roof and uses it to search for the first step. He finds it and tentatively puts all of his weight on it. It doesn't immediately collapse and Tyler takes that as a good thing. He climbs down, gently while keeping an ear out for his for his father.

Once he makes it to the bottom, Tyler realizes the hardest part was over, though now came the part he wasn't prepared for: where to go. He could always go to the coffee shop that was open all night, but his Aunt owns it, so she would most likely talk to his father about his nightly visit and ask one too many questions. 

So he decides to go to the lake. There is a hidden beach just off the path that Tyler's friend Patrick had found while trying to get away from his homophobic mother. Tyler could relate to that, though it was his father he was avoiding instead.

He heads across his yard, staying in the shadow, almost cat-like. He makes it to the sidewalk and takes off like a bullet, running as fast as he can, away from his house that doesn't feel like a home.

Tyler starts to slow down once he makes it a few blocks, feeling more safe and less likely to get found out. He pulls his hood up and shoves his hands inside of his jacket.

Even though it was only late September, it was chilly out tonight and Tyler silently thanks himself for wearing something other than his regular thin sweatshirt.

By the time he makes it to the beach, the clock on Tyler's phone says it's halfway past one. The hidden beach, or safe haven, as Tyler calls it, was as beautiful as ever. It always seams to be positioned just right to have the moon be cradled by the trees on the opposite side of the average sized lake. The moon's reflection on the lake was, as always, rippling, creating a lighting on the beach that leaves Tyler in awe.

However, tonight one thing seemed to be out of place. There was another person on the safe haven.

He has a short, curly hair that was dyed blue, though most of it was covered with a black beanie and was sitting on a Star Wars blanket. He had on a dark gray hoodie with some sort of emblem on the left side. Laying next to him was a red backpack, though it looked relatively empty.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Tyler asks while he moves across the beach.

"I could ask you the same thing, Mr. Demanding," the mysterious boy answers.

"How do you know? I could own the beach."

"But you don't," he says.

"How do you know?" repeats Tyler.

"Because nobody owns the beach. It's city property," responds the guy.

 _Well crap_ thinks Tyler _I was rude to this dude for no reason_. Trying to savage any hope of a relationship with the blue-haired man, Tyler jokes, "Well maybe I am the city."

The guy laughs, "If you're the city than means that I'm the lake."

Tyler moves next to the guy, "Exactly, that means that we go together."

The guy looks up, smiling, and holds out his hand, "Hello, City. I'm Josh."

"Why, hello there Lake, I'm Tyler." Josh gestures to the spot next to him on his blanket and Tyler takes a seat. He looks up at the sky and sees thousands of stars, blanketing the  black abyss above. Josh lays down completely. Tyler does the same.

"Man, the stars look beautiful tonight," Josh says, staring up at the heavens.

Tyler just nods, though he's not looking at the sky.

\---

The next day at lunch, Tyler tells Pete, one of his two friends, all about the night before.

"So some guy you met on our beach had blue hair and you already have a huge crush on him?" Pete asks to which Tyler nods. "Cool. I really want to meet him now. Does he go to a different school?"

"Yeah, that's why we've never met him before. Where did Patrick go, anyways?"

"Oh, he went to get some book from his locker that he wanted to show us. He's a nerd in that way," Pete says, lovingly. Tyler smiles at their cute relationship. "Also, why didn't you tell us that it was getting that bad at home?"

Tyler's smile falters, "It's not bad at ho-"

"Bullshit," Pete interrupts. "If it wasn't bad a home then why did you leave in the middle of the night?" When Tyler doesn't answer, he continues, "Exactly, you wouldn't, you're too level-minded to pull shit like that without having a reason to do so. Listen to me though, okay? I'm glad you found someone that makes you happy, even if you haven't known him for more than twenty-four hours, but if you need anything, you can come to Patrick and I."

"Yeah, yeah I know," Tyler says, using his fork to mess around with today's batch of 'food' that the school serves. "Patrick went through something like this too, right?"

"Yep, his mom eventually kicked him out and he's living at my mom's place for now. You have a spot there, too, if you need it," Pete replies.

"Wait, what?"

Pete nods, "After you said something about your dad, Patrick thought something might be up. So we talked to my mom and said you're welcome, day or night."

"Dude, your mom is the best," Tyler breaths.

"I know!"

"The sad part is, I might have to take you up on the offer."

Pete sighs, "I had a feeling you might say th-". He was cut off by a certain fedora-wearing ginger hugging him from behind. "Hi, Pattycakes," he says, turning around to hug his boyfriend back.

"Hey, Peter Panda! Hi, Ty Bear!"

Tyler laughs, "Hi, Patrick. Find your book?"

"Nope," Patrick responds. "I think I left it at home."

Tyler thinks it's nice that Patrick calls Pete's house 'home'.

\---

That night, Josh was at the beach again. He was standing with his feet in the water, staring out at the moon, which was back in it's spot in the sky, though he wasn't exactingly fully clothed. Josh is standing there in his boxers, with nothing else on. Tyler feels a blush spread across his face. He wants to make some sort of joke, but when he opens his mouth, the sound comes out as more of a desperate groan.

Josh spins around, the look on his face would have made Tyler laugh if it wasn't for the fact that he was tongue-tied. "H-how long have you been standing there?" Josh asks.

Tyler goes to talk again, but fails just as bad as the other times. He clears his throat and tries once more, "I just got here," he finally attempts to look away from Josh, but the redness in his face is far from unnoticeable. At least, it will be harder to spot, with it being night.

"Okay," Josh takes a step further into the lake and lets out a "burr".

"If you don't mind me asking," Tyler says cautiously, though he doesn't know why. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going swimming," Josh replies, as if there was nothing in the world that could stop him from doing it.

"No, I mean, why now, in the middle of the night?"

Josh laughs, "It's more fun that way."

"But you can't see if something comes up to grab you or if Big Foot follows you in and you end up having to swim, awkwardly might I add, with mythical beast," Tyler sarcastically argues.

"You're just absolutely full of optimism," Josh sighs. "You know that."

"Oh har har," Tyler says. "Seriously though, you could catch a cold or something."

"The cold would eventually wear off, but the experience of swimming at night doesn't," Josh says. "Besides if you're so worried, than why don't you stop me?"

"Well, I'm certainly not giving you permission," Tyler mumbles.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Tyler sighs. While all of his instincts are telling him this is a bad idea, he really wants to swim. He sighs again, for good measure, and moves to take off his sweatshirt then his shirt. The late night September wind hits his chest and he's already regretting his decision.

"What are you doing?" Josh's question floats over to Tyler.

"You know what they say," Tyler half-laughs, taking off his black skinny jeans.

"No, I don't," denies Josh.

"If you can't beat 'em," Tyler smirks. "Join 'em."

Josh returns the grin.

Tyler takes off his shoes and socks, then he takes a step into the water and immediately takes a step back out of the water. "Dude, how can you stand the cold?"

"You'll get used to it," Josh says. "Hurry up, I'm not gonna wait for you all night."

Tyler thinks the blush is back as he takes a deep breath, over-exaggerating the process of getting in the water. Josh puts his hands of his hips and puts a look of _I'm gonna come over there and drag you in_ on his face. Tyler eventually makes it out to where Josh is.

"Hello, it's nice to see you're finally here," Josh teases. Tyler knows it's just a joke, but his heart takes off like a bullet. "You've survived getting in. Now you have to make it past your knees."

"But I don't want to," Tyler whines, dragging out the 'o'. "I feel fine how we are, right now."

Instead of answering, Josh, in one swift motion, throws Tyler over his shoulder and he moves further into the lake.

"What th-Dude, put me down," Tyler protests, though he doesn't put up a fight, because he secretly enjoys being this close to Josh.

Josh seems to pick up on this, "Yet, you aren't trying to escape."

"You caught me, I have a thing for being held by scrawny, blue-haired guys," Tyler teases.

"How many guys do you know that have blue hair?"

"That's the part of the sentence you choose to focus on?" questions Tyler.

Josh shrugs, putting Tyler down, as they had made it out to their chests. "Jesus, bro, that's too cold for it to be comfortable, for anyone. Even, polar bears would be cold out here, and, yet, here you are, acting like it's nothing."

Josh shrugs, "Magic."

Tyler comes up with a revenge plan. Before he can convince himself to not do it, Tyler pull Josh into a full on bear hug. "Dude, what are doing?"

"Sharing body heat," Tyler says into Josh's chest. Josh responds to the hug, putting his arms around the other boy. Tyler smiles, his plan working. He makes sure his has a steady stance, he uses all of his body mass to push Josh under the water. Though it seems Josh was expecting this, as he doesn't protest, just tightens his grip on Tyler and pulls his down too.

Tyler's first thought was _water is wet_ and then it was _wow, I'm cold_ then it was _god, Josh is beautiful_. Like an idiot, and he would probably pay for it later in eye pains, he kept his eyes open. But it was so worth it. Josh had his eyes scrunched together and mouth puffed out, while his hair floated around him. Because the water was murky, he looked like a mermaid.

When the pair came up for air, Tyler was breathless, though it wasn't from being under water.

\---

"And you haven't kissed him yet?"

"No, Patrick," Tyler fakes annoyance. "Besides how long did it take for Pete to kiss you?"

At this, Patrick blushes, "Like three years."

Pete buts in, "Hey, it was actually two and a half."

"Exactingly," says Josh. "Give me some time to think."

"Okay, okay," Pete says. "Can we meet him soon?"

"You could probably come along tonight and meet him then, if it's okay with your mom, Pete."

Patrick visually perks up to this, "Really?

"Really."

\---

The next night, when Tyler arrives at the beach with Pete and Patrick, Josh is asleep on his blanket, though he had lazily thrown half of it over himself.

"Aww, he's adorable," Pete says, with Patrick clung to his side. "Though it is cold out here."

"T-tell me about it," shivers Patrick. Pete takes off his outer jacket and hands Patrick the lower one. He takes it and puts it on, but he still goes back to hugging Pete's side, after Pete puts his coat back on. Pete slings an arm over his shoulder and brings him closer. "How did you two go swimming yesterday?"

"I don't know, honestly," Tyler shrugs. He looks over at Josh and sighs contently. "How 'bout you guys set up the blanket we brought and I'll go and try to wake Sleeping Beauty." He takes off his backpack and holds it out to them.

They nod, and Pete grabs the backpack off of Tyler's hand. Tyler moves over to Josh and whispers to his sleeping form, "Hey, wake up, bro." Josh moves a little, but stays asleep. "I will roll you into the water."

Josh groans, "But, why?"

"Cause Pete and Patrick are here."

Josh completely wakes up, "Really?"

"Oh, I see how it is, you'd get up for them, but not for me?" Tyler sulks.

"Yep," Josh says, smirking. Tyler sends a bitch-face his way and Josh says, "Come on, you know you love me!"

Tyler rolls his eyes, "Sure I do." He tries ignore the way his pulse rate picks up and he can feel his face heat up.

But apparently Josh can't, "Aww, he's blushing."

"It's not my fault you flirt all the time," Tyler sasses.

Josh laughs, "You love it!"

"Anyways," Tyler says. "Are you ready to meet the world's cutest couple?"

"I was born ready."

Tyler laughs, "Then come on." He stands up straight and gives Josh a hand to get up. They walk over to Pete and Patrick, who are laying out on the Batman blanket they had found in the back of Pete's closet (" _This is what I came out of", Pete joked)_.

"So, you're the famous mystery man from the beach," Pete greets.

"Famous? How much did he tell you about me?"

"Loads," Patrick answers. "Like he wouldn't be quiet about you."

"You guys are against me," Tyler pouts.

Pete smirks and Josh says, "You know, I can see where the title World's Cutest Couple comes from."

"See?!" Tyler nearly yells. "You guys are so cute!"

"I'm not," Pete says. "But Patrick is. So what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"Umm...we could tell each other scary stories," Josh suggests.

Tyler nods, "It is technically the first of October because today was the last day of September but it's after midnight."

"Okay, we could tell stories," Pete shrugs.

"Who wants to go first?" Patrick asks.

  
Josh perks up, "I'll go."

   
"Sound like someone is prepared," Tyler laughs at his enthusiasm. 

"I'm always prepared," Josh winks at Tyler, who rolls his eyes. "Anyway, on a dark and cold night, a lot like tonigh-"

Tyler cuts him off, "Really? That is so overused."

"Anyway, picking up from before I was interrupted, on a night not so different then this one, there was a group of three teens, that were going camping in the woods."

"So, basically every horror movie cliche."

Josh nods, "Yep, so they were going to make a documentary about a local legend."

"This literally sounds like _The Blair Witch Project._ What is the legend called?"

"Um...Blurryface, yeah it was a man that walked around in the forest with black paint around his neck and on his hands. He kinda looks like you, Tyler."

"Oh, he would be so scary, then," Pete teases Tyler. 

"Hey! I'm plenty terrifying," Tyler puts his hands up in a claw gesture and says, "Rawr."

"Wow, you're so frightening. Anyways, the Tyler-lookalike would act like he was hurt to lure people to help him and then he jumps them. So, the campers had everything set up, a tent and cameras. They were walking," Josh continues. "When all of a sudden..." He pauses for effect and goes to resume his story, when a loud snore come from Patrick. 

"Did he fall asleep?" Josh asks, clearly holding back laughter.

Pete looks down at Patrick, who is curled up with his head on Pete's lap, and nods, "Yep, he's been trying to stay up with me, 'cause of my insomnia, so he hasn't been sleeping that well lately."

"I'll go get my blanket for him," Josh says, as he gets up to grab his blanket, that was still on the other side of the beach.

"You two seem to get along well," Pete says. "I might actually wake 'Trick up and head home."

"We'll probably come with you two, if you're up for Josh coming too," Tyler says. "His house isn't that far from your's."

"Okay, you should go tell him and I'll stay here with Pattycakes," Pete suggests. "Josh is all alone and no one else is here, if you know what I mean.

Tyler rolls his eyes and goes to talk, just talk, to Josh. 

"You guys heading out for the night?" Josh asks.

  
_Oh, he heard_ , Tyler thinks. "Yep."

"Okay," Josh turns Tyler around and forces him to look him Josh in the eyes. Tyler tilts his head in confusion, which Josh answers with a shrug and a hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer.

Tyler looks down at Josh's lips right before they meet his own. Fireworks go off, or at least, that's how Tyler would describe it. Josh's mouth presses against his, warm and insistent. Tyler moves his arms around Josh's neck, feeling the warmth of their combining breaths before Josh pulls from Tyler and instead pulls him into a hug. 

"What is this for?"

   
Josh replies, "Sharing body heat." Tyler smiles into Josh's neck. He turns his head to lay it on his shoulder and he realizes that Pete had saw and woken Patrick, as they were both smirking in his direction. Tyler laughs.

   
"What's funny?" Josh asks.

   
"You know, I never thought my first kiss would be in front of my best friends," Tyler points at Pete and Patrick.

   
"Especially, one that's half asleep," Josh laughs.

  
Tyler laughs along.


End file.
